My Chinese Ghost
by ShadoeFox
Summary: A new wrinkle in Ranma's curse appears as the spirt of the girl who drowned all those centuries ago appears to the pig tailed hero when he needs a friend the most. Of course, the fact that a demon follows her showing up is a bit of a downer!
1. Alone

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2. I do own a small part of Jusenkyo though! The spring of drowned...let me see here.... Spring of drowned fanfiction writ.... Wait a sec.

Oh well, just don't sue, cause I ain't making no money.

****

My Chinese Ghost

Prologue

She remembered the anger and pain first. She wasn't sure why. The memories of running through the forest while being chased by men intent on defiling her before killing her and coming to a ledge, which she jumped from preferring death to what she knew was behind her, was just easiest thing for her to remember. 

She remembered terror too. Not just of the men or of fear of death, but of where she realized she would land. She prayed that her soul would one day be freed from the trap of the springs, even as she felt the water surround her body. 

She sensed as her memories came back, that she had been trapped for a very, very long time. Her soul so alone until another presence came. He, she was sure from the start it was a man, had a hole in His heart that welcomed her mindless, desperate search for freedom. 

Then she slept. She knew, somehow, that she could steal the man's energy if she wished to, but she didn't want to take anything from the man. Even though doing so would allow her to be awake and to think, the small part of her mind that was aware refused. It was enough for her to just feel another so close to her. 

Time passed, an unconscious heaven after an eternity of a semi-conscious hell, but her heaven was temporary it seemed. She had felt the Mans anger many times along with his other emotions, and knew he was a warrior from the power of his fighting spirit. It grew almost constantly until a fight where he felt rage, terror, desperation, and even hatred. 

She felt Him use all the Chi energy he could without passing out, and she felt His pain, even as He fought through it. Then, as His desperation grew to a point to break most men's spirits, she felt Him call up everything He had left, including the power of His own soul. It could destroy Him, she knew that, and she also knew He didn't care. He KNEW He had to win. 

She awoke just long enough to lend her own souls strength to Him, in payment for the peace she had finally enjoyed. 

He won, and they survived.

She slipped back into her spiritual coma, feeling satisfied as her companion felt joy. She felt Him recover over a short time, eternally amazing her at resilience as He reached His former peak and passed it. 

She didn't realize that she was also growing stronger, not until she awoke! At first it was just her self-awareness that returned, but that was more then she had had in so long and it was more then enough for her. Still to her joy and amazement she soon began to sense the world around Him. Vague impressions came first, then more detailed and constant, and she suspected she shared with Him His senses. 

She also, on several occasions, found herself standing above a boy, a man really, close to her own age when she died. She spent entire nights just admiring Him, even when a woman so similar to herself she knew it was Him. She admired the defined features of his face, and wondered if her own blue hair would have looked as good in a pig tail.

She soon learned how to leave His body for periods of time. She was tied to Him, bound, but she didn't mind. She was also very careful to never appear when He, or the family around Him, was awake. She couldn't stand the idea of Him fearing the ghost living inside of Him. 

On her nightly trips, once she started venturing away from Him, she learned she could, with effort, form physically for short times. She happily used this ability to help around His home, straightening shelves and removing dust. She once startled the longhaired girl, who she hadn't known was awake, by giggling at her surprise at finding dishes put away. To her relief she didn't seem to scare her, and she even said thank you to the 'house spirit'. It was nice even if she was wrong about her identity.

Her nighttime jaunts had a price, early on. They caused her to 'sleep' through the days in the beginning. She grew stronger with time, though, and after only a month was able to run on a 'normal' sleep schedule. 

Then something happened. She was asleep through the events themselves, but was quickly aware of a wedding that had gone wrong. She felt anger and depression from Him, and spent the whole day suffering silently with him. Weeks passed until one night he climbed on the home's roof, where he often went to think, and curled up around himself and stared at the sky. 

He wouldn't cry, she knew that He wouldn't allow Himself to cry, but He begged to know why! Why everyone treated Him as a thing. A possession and not a person! 

She cried for Him. She knew how those around Him treated Him, and the pain it caused. Even she, who shared His body, thought of Him as something other then a man. True to her He was more akin to a god, but it was still, strangely, unfair and she knew it. 

She willed her self out of His body, visible and solid. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug no one else offered him even if He'd fear her later. She apologized for not being fair to Him, though He didn't even know she had been using Him.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Ranma Saotome, man among men, legendary warrior, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, sighed. "I just want to know why no one treats me like a person anymore!" He demanded of the stars. He felt arms wrap around him, hugging him gently.

"I'm sorry." A soft, feminine voice he didn't know said. He heard her sniff, and knew she was crying.

"Hey, don't cry! It's not like you did nothing!" He said, turning his head. He froze in amazement when he found a familiar looking woman holding him in her translucent arms. "Who are you...and WHAT are you?"

AN: I just had this idea plop into my mind and I'm not sure where it will go yet. What do you think? 

BTW: I have no intention of this story being "Ranma and the Ghost girl get together." It's actually probably going to be Akane and Ranma, since Ranma-Papa, Shampoo-mama is shaping up not to be. Hope folks enjoy this. 


	2. Meetings

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 or any other anime series. The original characters in this story are mine, though, so please tell me when you're using them. Otherwise, have fun!

AN: Okay, far be it for me to refuse my readers. The ghost shall have a chance with the Wild Horse named Ranma. We'll see what happens

****

My Chinese Ghost

Chapter One

"Who are you? What are you?" Ranma knew the second he asked he'd made things worse. "Don't cry! I'm sorry! It's just your like... See through!"

The strange, translucent girl blinked in surprised confusion. He truly didn't seem angry at all, and in fact looked confused and concerned all at once. "My name is Mei Ling Chuan, and I think I am a ghost." She looked down. "Please don't fear me."

Ranma stared in shock as her tears fell from her cheeks, glowing briefly before disappearing. He considered the ghost girl briefly before disappearing. He considered the ghost girl carefully, noticing that aside from her blue hair and some distinctly Chinese features she looked like his girls sides sister. She was sitting curled over her knees wearing an old fashioned Chinese outfit with tears suggesting she had escaped some sort of fight. Something made him suspect it was what she was wearing when she drowned.

"You're that girl! The one who drowned!" The realization made him say. When she nodded, but didn't look up Ranma patted her on the back without thinking, and not realizing that he shouldn't be able to. "Hey, I ain't afraid or angry at ya, so stop cryin. Where did you come from though?"

"That's... That's hard to explain." The girl, Mei, replied. "You see I only have impressions of events for a very long time, from when I drowned to about a month ago." She rubbed her eyes, puffy from crying which fascinated Ranma. He didn't know ghosts could get puffy eyes. 

"I remember praying that my soul would be released from Jusenkyo someday before I hit the water. The Elders of my village told us the waters steal the souls of its victims, when it claims a life. After that, for what seemed like an eternity, I was alone and barely aware of anything except the occasional presence that I assume were my spring's victims. Then, one day, a victim came with an openness in their heart and a hole in their soul, and they carried me away. That was you."

"But I fell in over a year ago!"

"I know, but I am not finished." She quietly chided him. "You see, while I was free of the pool, I would have had to steal you're life force to think much less manifest like I am now, but I refused to. Instead I stayed only semi-aware, trapped insider of you. But it was a heaven after Jusenkyo hell!"

"Then, a month ago, something happened. You were battling something powerful that you NEEDED to beat, at any cost. I felt you focus all you're chi and even the power of you're soul and feared you'd destroy you're self. I awoke long enough to lend you what power I had in my own soul, and yo0u must have won."

"Saffron. That's who I was fighting."

"The Phoenix god? You fought him!"

Ranma sighed, and looked away. "I killed him. He was trying to kill me, Akane, and everyone so I had no choice."

"You're powerful enough to beat a god?"

Ranma chuckled. "Well, almost. You DID help a little, after all."

"Not that much, Ranma. I just made it so you'd survive. You wouldn't need my help now." She paused. "Actually, I could HELP more now. You see, shortly after you recovered from that fight, I became fully aware for the first time in a very long time, and it wasn't by draining you."

"Somehow in helping you, I released abilities I didn't know I had. I have chi of my own, though I don't know how it's possible, and could use it as my father taught me. I found a way to focus and FEEL through you... Though I carefully didn't when you... Um... Bathed." She blushed, remembering a couple of occasions where the temptation grew too strong. "Then I discovered ways to leave you're body, for short times at first then longer. Eventually I discovered I could manifest near completely, even to the point of touching and moving things."

"You're the one who's been doing these chores! Kasumi's been talking about a good house spirit!" He grinned. "I guess she was right."

"I just wanted to help."

"Why were you apologizing to me, though?" Ranma asked, thinking about how he met her.

"You where saddened because none treated you as a person. I fear I'm as guilty as any." 

"How the heck do you figure that? You haven't used me, even though you said you could, and you've been great since I made you stop crying."

"I don't really think of you as a man. It may seem silly to you but... You gave me a heaven, Ranma-sama. To me you're more like a god."

Ranma's reaction to that was a snort of humor. "I'm good, I mean I'm the best, but I ain't that good. Let me tell ya what I mean..."

_______________________________________________________________________________

Akane would have denied it, but she was worried. Ranma had been getting more and more with drawn since the failed wedding attempt and she'd finally worked up the guts to apologize to him for her part in the mess. 

With a grunt she jumped to the roof of the house, smiling at her success. She'd been working hard, in private, and had just hit the two-story mark on her jumps. She carefully crept up the roof, knowing Ranma liked the peak near the kitchen, thinking. 

"...Then Ryoga, after the guy helps me out, he knocks me across town!" He laughed. 

She growled in jealous frustration, wondering which fiancee he was flirting with now. She growled, planning on giving him a piece of her mind but froze when he came into view.

He was completely alone, talking to thin air! In fact he seemed to be listening to the air.

"Yeah, I guess he's my friend. I just hate the constant fighting. I even apologized about the bread already!"  
"Oh my god." Akane whispered. She watched Ranma as he held a conversation with no one for another half an hour before Kasumi called for dinner. "I've got to talk to someone. But who?" She muttered as she crept away.

At dinner she watched Ranma, and saw nothing unusual in how he acted. He ate like a marine, fought with his father, and laughed at a joke Nabiki made just like he normally would. It wasn't until half way through the meal that it dawned on her that he WAS acting normally and not withdrawn.

Apparently talking to the air was very therapeutic. 

Even considering that he felt better, she decided to talk to Dr Tofu the next day. Her apology she completely forgot about. 

____________________________________________________________________________________

That night, after Ranma went to bed, Mei happily moved around the house, looking for something to do. She had finally actually met Him and He didn't hate her! She wanted to be useful, and with a quiet song she started putting away dishes that had been left in the drying racks.

She gasped and dropped a plate when the lights suddenly came on. She spun around to find Kasumi Tendo looking in her direction looking... Curious and confused. Mei was confused in return when she turned off the light. 

"Oh, there you are. Hello! Kasumi said with a smile."

AN: Why can Ranma touch her, and Kasumi apparently sees her? All will be explained. 

I am sorry it took me so long to get this up. I've had it written for over a month, along with like four chapters of this, three of another story and something like eight of a third. I'm FINALLY typing them in. Yay me!


	3. Worries

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. I do own Mei, but if ya wanna use her, go for it.

****

My Chinese Ghost

Chapter Two

"Oh! There you are! Hello!" Kasumi said with a smile, her chocolate brown eyes taking in the short, translucent, blue haired girl. 

"Um. Hello..." Mei Lin Chuan replied, staring at the eldest Tendo daughter in frightened shock. She had thought everyone was asleep and had no idea how Kasumi had escaped her notice. 

Kasumi stepped into the kitchen, the room dimly lit by the moon outside the window. "I am Kasumi Tendo, and it's good to meet you. Are you the girl who drowned in Jusenkyo?"

Mei's already wide-open eyes were fit to pop out of her head at THAT statement. "How... How did you know that?" 

"You look just like Ranma-chan, if she had a sister that is. You're also a ghost. It isn't that hard to figure out." She frowned. "I hope you aren't angry at Ranma-kun."

"No! Of course not! If he hadn't come I'd still be trapped in that... Hell! He saved me, even if he didn't know that at the time."  
"That does sound like Ranma! He does have a talent for rescuing the ladies." Kasumi giggled then grew curious. "Why did you just now start coming out? Ranma's been here a year."

"That's a long story." Mei replied. When Kasumi nodded and gestured for her to talk, Mei explained what had happened to her as she had to Ranma.

"Oh! That's so sad!"

"You're not afraid of me?"

"Heavens no! That nice ghost cat friend of Shampoo's still visits occasionally, and the ghosts at that lovely tunnel of lost love were always very polite to me. Why would I be afraid?"

"Um... Right..." Mei sweat dropped, dead or not.

(AN: We ARE talking about Kasumi.)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning, Ranma awoke with a yawn. "What a weird night." He muttered, then he looked around. "I wonder if it was a dream. Hey Mei?" He called out.

*Yes?* a sleepy voice answered in his head.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?"

*I don't know. Does it bother you?*

"Naw. You sound tired though."

*I am a little.*

"Sorry for disturbing you then. Have yourself a nap. I know I'm going to." He chuckled. School was dull, but at least he could sleep without fear of major attack.

*You really should pay attention in class. I do and I find it fascinating, when you're awake.*

"You do?" Ranma grinned. "Maybe you can help me with my homework."

After grabbing a quick breakfast, Ranma and Akane donned jackets and headed for school. Akane nervously glanced at Ranma several times as they walked before working up the courage to speak. "Ranma... Have you been feeling okay?"

Ranma, walking along the fence feeling pretty good, glanced at Akane. "I'm okay, why?"

"You've just seemed down in the dumps for the past month or so. You know what I mean."

The pigtail boy thought about her question for a few moments. "Well yeah, I suppose. Don't worry though, I'm feeling better now."

"I noticed." Akane frowned. "You're sure you're all right?"

"Yeah! Geesh Akane, what do you care so much for?" Ranma asked, annoyed that she was interfering in his good mood.

"Well excuse me! You're right, I don't care!"

Ranma watched as she stomped off in a huff, shaking his head. "What the heck was that all about?" He asked the thin air. Fortunately for Akane, who had paused to look back, Mei was asleep and didn't answer. Ranma talking to the air right then would have driven HER crazy. As it was, they both ignored each other, or at least pretended too.

The whole day Akane watched Ranma, circumspectly of course, to see if he was behaving strangely. It wasn't until their history class near the end of the day that he did something odd. 

She had watched in annoyance as he started drifting off to sleep from nearly the beginning of the lesson. 

Inside Ranma, another girl was paying attention, but to the class and not Ranma. They were on a world history section and were discussing the colonial period of the British Empire. Until she had awoken all Mei had known about was local china and some rumors of other peoples to the west, and of course the Mongols. When Ranma started to speak, she spoke up. *Wait Please!*

"Huh? What?"

*Please stay awake. I want to listen to the lesson but I have to use your senses if you fall asleep so do they. 

"So why don'cha hop out and watch that way."

*I might scare anyone who can see me!*

"Oh." Ranma sighed. "Fine, I'll try and stay awake. You might have to keep me awake, though. You might find this interesting, but I sure don't!"

*Thank you, Ranma-sama.*

"Just Ranma. You're welcome."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Oh hello Akane. How are you today?" Dr. Tofu Ono asked. "Nothing wrong I hope."

"Actually Dr. Tofu something is wrong. I don't know how to say this but I think Ranma might be... Well... Going insane." Akane stuttered a little, then sighed and started explaining. "You know about the wedding attempt and what all happened with that. Well he's been really kinda down since then."

"Define down."

"Short temper, really quiet, last week a loss of appetite. Things like that. He's also been spending a lot of time on the roof alone."

Tofu nodded. "Sounds like he's a little depressed."

"Well, he was, but yesterday I climbed up to talk to him and caught him talking to the air. It sounded like a real conversation but I could only hear the parts Ranma was saying. Like over hearing a phone call."

"Are you sure he wasn't just talking to himself? He does do that some times when he's trying to work through a problem."

"No doctor. He was telling the air his life's story, and answering questions from the sound of it. Then today he was falling asleep in class, as usual, when suddenly he jerked awake. He muttered to himself for a little bit, then stayed awake. He kept half-dozing then jerking awake like some one poked him."

Tofu nodded through her explanation. "I admit that does sound a little odd. Tell you what, Akane. Have Ranma come by, he needs a check up anyway, and I'll see what I can find out. It might be something fairly easy to explain."

"I hope so. I'm worried about him." Akane admitted. 

AN: What? Didn't explain everything you say. Well of course not! What's to keep you coming back otherwise.


	4. Revelations and Mistakes

****

My Chinese Ghost

Chapter Three

"Aw man, I don't want to visit Dr. Tofu! I feel fine."

"Yeah, I know Ranma. It's just a checkup though. Calm down." Akane, dragging the protesting Ranma by his wrist, replied. Ukyo, who had tagged along after watching Ranma's rather reluctant exit from the school grounds, just grinned and shook her head.

"He's like a five-year-old, isn't he?" The chef giggled.

"No kidding. Just YOU try not to blow anything up."

Ukyo winced. "Akane, I apologized for that! Besides, I still say Shampoo spiked my food or something."

Akane looked at Ukyo. "You're saying you didn't plan to interfere with the wedding?" Ranma asked.

"Interfere, yes. Blow UP the wedding, no. You're the only one I ever blew up Ranchan."

"Why does that not comfort me?" Akane muttered. Secretly she thought Ukyo was right, the bombs were a bit out of character for her. She'd even gone so far as to forgive the other girl, though she hadn't told her yet. As for Shampoo... that was a soon to be skinned cat of a different color. 

The trio soon found themselves at the clinic and entered through the sliding door. Tofu was sitting at the front desk filling out the final page of a chart and greeted them cheerfully. "Ukyo, have you had any more dizzy spells?"

"Not all month."

"Dizzy spells?"

"Like I said, I think I was drugged."

"Oh. Okay." Akane and Ranma both looked a bit sheepish.

Tofu stood, picking up Ranma's rather thick file from his desk. "You girls can wait out here. Ranma, follow me." The doctor led the pig-tailed boy to one of his exam rooms. Quickly and professionally he started his exam, talking as he worked. "So, been under a bit of stress I hear, what with the big wedding fiasco."

"I have to admit I've had better times then that. I'm good now though."

"That's good." Tofu nodded. "Did it cause any nightmares or the like?"

"Before or after?" Ranma asked with an amused snort. "Seriously though, I had a couple where someone got hurt bad or something."  
"Anything strange happen since then?" Tofu continued. "Anything that hasn't happened before?"

Ranma sat back and thought about the question carefully.

*There is me.* Mei pointed out, speaking in his head, causing the martial artist to shrug.

*Yeah, but ghosts and spirits from my cursed form aren't really that weird. Happosai's called a bunch of them up.* Ranma replied, also silently and only in his head having figured the trick out at school. *Besides, you don't really hurt my body or nothing. We'll tell him about you when he isn't so busy.*

"Not really doc. Why?"

"A quiet month? That's almost unique for you."

"Hey, you're right! That's why Nabiki's been taking more pictures lately!" Ranma exclaimed, having just realized how much the betting pools must have dropped off lately.

"Probably." Tofu chuckled. "Tell me Ranma, have you been talking to yourself more then usual lately?"

"Yeah, kinda have a lot on my mind lately."

"Have you... This is going to sound strange... Have you been hearing voices from people who aren't there?"

*He IS talking about me!*

*Don't be paranoid Mei. He probably thinks I got hit in the head at the wedding. You ARE here, anyway.*

"Naw doc. Why?

"Akane expressed a concern. She says she's seen you talking to the air recently."

"Well I ain't. Stupid tomboys spying on me." Ranma grumbled.

"She meant well Ranma. Let me talk to her, then I'll send her in to talk with you, okay?"

"Sure. Whatever." Ranma shrugged, figuring it wasn't worth holding a grudge over. He watched Tofu exit the room, never noticing the lavender cat slipping through the window behind him. 

Not, that is, till it jumped on him.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Akane nodded, having just finished explaining to Ukyo why they were in the doctor's office without Ranma having been in any fights at all. "That's why I was so eager to get him here."

"Wow. I'll keep an eye on him too. That is weird, even for Ranma-honey."

"Excuse me girls." Both looked up as doctor Tofu returned to the waiting room. "I'd like you to tell Ranma what you witnessed Akane. His physical health is normal for him and his answers to my questions are on par for the course."

"Okay doctor, I will."

"Do you want me to wait out?" Ukyo was interrupted.

"CAT!"

"Oh no!" Akane yelled as they ran to the examination room.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the room Shampoo-neko, wearing an odd collar, held onto Ranma's shoulder. The necklace, "Basts Whim" was supposed to grant the wearer control over anything cat like. Shampoo was hoping that included sufferers of the Neko-ken. She smiled a feline smile as Ranma stilled, after his rolling knocked a bag of saline off of a shelf, bursting over them.

She blinked in surprise when Ranma simply stood up, and plucked her off of his... No her shoulder and looked at her with jade green eyes.

'Wait.' Shampoo thought. 'Ranma have blue eyes.'

That's when the clinics other three occupants burst into the room.

Mei, somewhat confused by finding himself in charge of a body again, looked up. "This cat seems to have scared Ranma. I'm sorry about the mess."

"Oh my." Akane really just couldn't think of anything else to say.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ryoga crossed the rise of the hill and froze in shock. "It can't be!" He exclaimed, rubbing his eyes as if to clear them, because what he saw shocked him. It also made the ever-depressed boy very happy. 

Jusenkyo. The poles and the pools were images etched on his mind, and finally he'd found it. It had flooding above some of the pools, but most of them were fully visible. He ran straight down, to the edge of a pool, and yelled for the guide at the top of his lungs. When the rolly polly kind of guy showed himself, the fanged boy demanded to know where the Spring of Drowned Man was.

"Oh, so sorry honored customer. Three Rivers Damn cause much flooding while built. That one is under river water for at least ten years. Still is rising, too."

"No. NO!" Ryoga clutched his head. "Why? I didn't do anything to deserve this! Why! Ahhh!"

Splash.

"Oh no, customer fall in another spring."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Authors Notes: Yes, yes, I know it's short! As for what spring Ryoga fell into, guess. Maybe you'll guess right, or maybe I'll steal your idea. (With credit to you, of course!) Who knows!


	5. A very bad evening

My Chinese Ghost

Chapter 4

Cologne just couldn't believe it. Just when she thinks the children surrounding her could not make things more confusing or strange, this happens. "She's telling the truth. Her Ki aura is far too different and I can still sense the Son-in-laws aura underneath it."

Akane, Tofu, Shampoo and Ukyo sat around Cologne and a very nervous Mei/Ranma-chan. The three girls were both standing ready to tackle the girl if she tried to escape. "Then tell the ghost to let Ranma free." Akane demanded. 

"I've tried, but he's afraid of something!" Mei defended herself. "He just meow's at me when I speak to him!" Mei was angry, but could sense the fighting ability surrounding her so she didn't try to just leave. She also did want to help Ranma.

Tofu's eyes widened. "Wait, Shampoo came in as a cat, and then you came out?"

"Um... Yeah." 

"Then it might NOT be her fault. If any of what she says is true, at least."  
"I think I know what you are thinking, young man." Cologne nodded, actively impressed by the doctor's quick thinking.

"Then tell us!" Ukyo snarled, earning a thwack from the old woman's staff. 

"Ranma is hiding, and like usual he looked for someone safe to 'pet' him. This time he just happened to have someone he trusted handy." Cologne shrugged. "He's hiding behind her in their shared body."

"Then this easy to fix." Shampoo declared, lifting a hot water pitcher. "We break Neko-ken!" She tossed the water on Ranma with a smile. The smile faded when Ranma meowed. "Uh oh!"

Neko-Ranma pounced at the Amazon, but Cologne was faster and splashed him with a pitcher of cold water, thankful for Tofu's consideration to the Jusenkyo cursed among his patients."

"What happened?" Ranma-chan demanded. 

"Is this Ranma, or Mei?" Tofu countered

"Ranma...wait, you guys know about Mei?"

*I took over your body somehow while you were... in the neko-ken thing. *

"She was in control of your body for a while." Tofu unknowingly repeated. "Why didn't you tell me about her?"

"You were asking about unusual stuff."

"You don't consider the ghost of the girl who's the cause of your curse unusual?" Ukyo yelled.

All the occupants of the room face faulted when Ranma answered "not really."

"How can you say that!" Cologne asked, incredulity written on her face.

"Ghost cats. Getting hit on the head and thinking I was a girl. That mirror a while back. Happosai incense..." 

"Stop. We get the point." Akane interrupted. "She's just a new theme and she's at least... Nice."

Suddenly, at least for those watching, a smoke like energy flowed out of Ranma, and formed into a translucent image of Mei. She was amazed to discover that, while Kasumi, Ranma, and the two older occupants didn't need 'Help' to see her, the fiancee's needed her to use some extra energy. "I am sorry if I startled you, now and before."

The crowd considered her for a moment. She had long blue hair, worn loose around her shoulders, while her facial features were close enough to Ranm-chan's to be a half sister. They were, standing side by side, the same height though by some ironic twist in fate Ranma-chan was slightly larger in the chest. Her clothes were peasant Chinese a thousand years out of date, and showed multiple tears. 

"That is okay Mei. We just rarely have such calm interactions with ghosts or spirits." Cologne assured the girl, frowning as she considered Mei. And I'm not sure WHAT you are, to be honest."

"I'm a ghost. I died in the spring."

Cologne shook her head. "Maybe, but you then should not have Ki... And you have a VERY powerful life force for a dead person...or most of the living to be honest." Cologne sighed, and rubbed her temples. "I'm going to have to do some research on Jusenkyo to see if anything even remotely like this has ever happened. You do have a talent for the bizarre, son-in-law."

"Yeah, don't I know it."

Mei raised a ghostly eyebrow. "You all... aren't afraid of me?"

"No, we aren't." Ukyo replied, vaguely surprised by the fact that Mei had brought it up. "I guess Ranma's right, you really aren't that unusual."

Akane shrugged. "I don't know. She isn't actively trying to kill or marry anyone so...that's kinda weird."

"Good point."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ryoga tossed and turned, finally jerking awake and free of his nightmare. For once it had nothing to do with getting eaten because of his curse, the one benefit to falling in THAT spring, but it had everything to do with Jusenkyo. He couldn't remember what the dream was about, but it scared him. "Oh, young sir, did you have a good sleep?" The guide asked, finishing the preparation of some dinner and his strangely calm 'customer'." 

"Not to bad. Where'd the rabbit come from?" He asked, feeling a vague sense of deja vu, looking at a rabbit hanging from one foot above a pot of boiling water. 

"I find outside." The guide answered, and Ryoga watched him with dread as he lowered the apparently begging rabbit into the water. "Would it no be funny if Rabbit be from cursed spring?"

Ryoga was already diving forward. "NO!!" As the Chinese man dropped the rabbit. He caught it, only and instant before it hit the boiling water, unfortunately tipping the pot over on himself and the rabbit. Hitting the floor face first Ryoga grunted slightly when the weight in his hands increased dramatically, and became...fleshy.

Looking up, Ryoga froze as his eyes settled on a beautiful, green haired girl. Who was naked. 

He passed out.

"No can eat this one." The guide lamented.

_____________________________________________________________________________________  


Inside a cave hidden beneath Jusenkyo a dark form began to move. The mystical bonds holding it had weakened after so long, and finally it had awoken. 

In spite of straining, however, the malevolent force remained trapped and held by the magic of the springs. Its howl woke everything for a hundred miles, in spite of not one living soul hearing it. 

Few of those who woke found sleep again that night.

AN: You think the plot was going to be as simple as "Ranma has a woman trapped in him." Have none of you ever read my fan fiction? It's ALWAYS more complicated. And why am I not getting any money for the guy I researched the Neko-Ken on, anyway? 

Just kidding. (If you're curious, click on my name. I did a short humor-fic about the Neko-ken, though the titles escaping me at the moment.. heh.)


	6. Ryoga's a pervert?

Disclaimer: I don't own nuthin, and you can't prove that I do.

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My Chinese Ghost

Chapter 5

Two weeks had passed since the public revelation of Mei to the rest of Nerima's wrecking crew and Cologne still hadn't found anything useful regarding ghosts and Jusenkyo. As for everyone else, they did what Nerimains did best when faced with the strange, and adapted to it's presence in their daily lives. The person who had the most trouble adapting was Genma who actually tried to exercise his son. Ranma understandably was upset by his clumsy attempts (Spirit wards hurt when you ripped them off after a while.) and tried to pound the crap out of his father. 

When his father tried to use a surly Shampoo-neko to scare his equally wet son away, he ended up with an irate Chinese woman and an Amazon cat on his heels. Somehow, no one was surprised when Mei showed skills in Tai Chi Chuan. 

All in all, it was a quiet couple of weeks. This meant that Ryoga stumbled across a bored Ranma the afternoon he got back to Nerima.

"Yo, Ryoga!" The pigtailed boy greeted. "How's it going?" He grinned and fell into a fighting stance, knowing his psuedo-friends normal reaction to that question.

"I'm in hell." The fanged boy replied, right on schedule. Then he broke pattern by NOT attacking. "I've been looking for you, actually. I have some bad news, about Jusenkyo."

Ranma relaxed his stance while his face grew anxious. "What's wrong with it?"

Ryoga opened his mouth to answer when, out of no where, water poured down on the two warriors' heads. "Linna, I told you to pour the bucket in the sink, not out the window." An annoyed voice drifted from above.

This drew Ranma's now female eyes off of Ryoga and to the building for a moment, but they snapped back when the lost boy grumbled "Damnit." He was still human!

Ranma walked closer and poked the fanged boy in the chest, then clapped his shoulder with an envious chuckle. "Let me guess, your bad news is that you didn't bring me or Mousse any... Ryoga, what are you..." Ranma looked down at Ryoga's hands...

And their perch on her breasts.

____________________________________________________________________________________

The door of the cat cafe slid open behind Shampoo, causing the Amazon waitress to turn with a big smile. "Welcome to the Nekohatten! Shampoo... Laun Te?" Shock filled her voice. "What you doing in Japan?"

The newcomer brushed sweaty green locks out of her face, catching her breath. She'd had to run half way across Tokyo to get to the restaurant. "I'll explain later... where's the... Tendo dojo?"

"Why you looking for there?"  
"Emergency... Ryoga... Please answer!"

"Lost boy in trouble? If he at Tendo's Ranma help him, but if you want see is three blocks that way." Shampoo had no sooner pointed then the other girl vanished causing Shampoo to blink in surprise.

It seemed to the young warrior woman that something was getting ready to happen at the home of her husband, and that meant only one thing.

"Great Grandma, Shampoo take break now!" She yelled as she rushed after the other girl.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Move. Them. Now." Ranma growled through gritted teeth, her eyes never moving from the hands clutching her breasts. 

"I... I can't." Ryoga claimed, trying to hide the drool on his lips. "Damn Jusenkyo!" He continued in a bellow.

He bellowed again, this time in pain, when Ranma drove her fist into his face. This effectively removed his hands from her bosoms. "Gee. Didn't seem so hard to me." She declared with false sweetness.

_"Who is this pervert?" _Mei asked telepathically. Ranma felt she could feel how offended the other girl felt.

"Ryoga Hibiki, but in his defense he ain't usually like this." Ranma considered the apparently unconscious Ryoga. "He usually takes a punch better then this too." Carefully she walked closer, and when he didn't move she crouched down and shook him. "Hey, you okay P-chan?"

The red haired girl stiffened when she felt a hand grope her rear end. The fanged boy opened his eyes. "I am SO sorry!" He said. Unfortunately for him, she saw the drool.

"Ryoga you pervert!" He barely jumped away from Ranma's stomp kick, and began running. "Ryoga, get back here!" The irate heir to the anything goes school yelled, giving chase.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Kasumi Tendo was finishing hanging her laundry when suddenly a green haired girl bounded over the walls around the house and yelled "Ryoga-chan! Are you here?"

"Hello." The eldest of the Tendo girls greeted. She was ever the polite hostess, and since Ranma and Akane's friends tended to bust holes through walls most of the time, she considered the girl's arrival down right polite. 

"Um. Hi." Laun replied not sure how to deal with the polite greeting though she bowed in return to Kasumi's own. "Have you... Um... Seen Ryoga Hibiki? And, um...is this the Tendo Dojo?"

"Oh yes, this is the Tendo Dojo, but Ryoga-kun hasn't been by today. Would you like to wait for him?"

"Yes, please." She sounded relieved.

"Kasumi is someone calling Ryoga..." Akane stepped into the back yard and paused. "Who are you?"

"Laun Te, Ryoga's fiancee'... but that's not important right now."

"You lost boy's fiancee?" Shampoo chose that moment to make her entrance. "How that happen?"

"He beat me in combat. You know the rules!" Laun replied. "And no jokes about my skills Xian Pu!"

"An Amazon, lucky Ryoga." Nabiki muttered, having stepped out, unnoticed, next to Akane. "She is kind of cute, you have to admit."

Akane just shrugged, and was about to speak when Ryoga blew through the same wall Laun had jumped over, head first. He jumped up and almost instantly spotted Laun, and ran behind her. "Save me!" He pleaded... then grabbed her breasts from behind her.

"RYOGA! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?" Akane yelled, shocked.

"Groping her..." Ranma's voice proceeded her ki-glowing form as she stepped through Ryoga's hole. A ghostly Mei was following and both girls carried mallets of a size just slightly short of Akane's preferred size. Ranma was also missing her shirt. "Don't worry, he won't survive long enough to do much more...

AN: Yep, spring of drowned pervert! No, Happosai isn't dead. However, you have to admit this is the curse most likely to bother Ryoga more then anything else!   


Sorry it took me so long to post again. I seem to get busy.

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	7. Excuses, Myths, and other explinations

Disclaimer: its called Fanfiction for a reason! If I could create my own stuff I would have by now.

Actually, I have. Anyone know what to do after you do that? Oh well.

****

My Chinese Ghost

Chapter 6

The Flicker of Ranma's aura, the visible power of her rage, cast strange shadows over the back garden of the Tendo Dojo in spite of the noon day sun. The focus of her anger, Ryoga Hibiki, watched in horror as the pig-tailed red head slowly stalked forward. "Ranma... I didn't mean it." The fanged boy begged.

"Oh? And are you meaning to do it to her?" She snarled, gesturing with the hammer in her hands to the new girl's chest.

Absently Akane wondered where she got it. It was small for her tastes, but looked nice.

Ryoga yelped and jumped back after releasing the girl's breasts. "No! It's Jusenkyo.. and... pervert..." 

"Yes. You are a perv... What the heck?" Ranma was shocked out of her anger when the green haired girl poured a thermos of hot water over the lost boy's head. 

"Thank you!" Ryoga said, relieved. Then he blinked twice, looked at Ranma and the girl who helped him, and squeaked once before passing out with a bloody nose. Again, everyone froze for a few silent moments.

"What the heck's going on here?" Akane finally yelled, shattering the quiet.

___________________________________________________________________________________

"Spring of drowned Pervert?" Akane asked, shocked that such a thing existed.

"Yes." The girl, Laun Te, nodded. "The cursed springs have curses that effect the mind as well as the body." 

"Like that priest, warrior guy." Ranma, now male, muttered.

"Yes, though that one effects both the mind and the body." Laun nodded. "In poor Ryoga's case it only effects his mind, and he doesn't even realize what he's doing until he's... misbehaving."

"Geesh, that's got to be the worst curse ever." Akane muttered. She wasn't very thrilled with the idea of a Happosai possessed Ryoga, or having to mallet him. She knew he was a nice guy, and that one blow from mallet-sama wouldn't drop him. It'd take at least three. 

She made a mental note to pick up a twenty pound sledgehammer from the hardware store later.

"Aiyah, Lost boy do find bad curse. Even cat is better then that."

"Much as I hate to admit it, I agree. I'd stick to being a girl if that's my only other option." Ranma stated with a grimace. 

All eyes turned towards Ryoga, who was sitting slumped at the end of the Tendo's dinner table, glowing softly from his deep depression. "Stop staring! This is my own private hell, you know! Even the pig was better!"

"What pig?" Akane asked, causing Ryoga to yelp and stammer in terror.

"He means Akari's big pig. You know the one that attacks him all the time?" Ranma half-heartedly tried to protect the lost boy from his own stupidity.

He almost hurt himself when she said "Okay." To his weak excuse.

"Well, now that unimportant lost boy conversation done," Shampoo chirped, interrupting everyone else's line of thought. "How Laun and Ryoga get together? He fight you?"

"Um. No." She blushed. "He saved my life."

"How?"

"Well... You see... I was kind of researching the springs when I... Got to close to one and fell in. Spring of Drowned Rabbit and... The guide tried to cook me."

"He's still doing that?" Ranma yelled, then blinked when Shampoo started laughing.

"Laun fall in... Spring of Rabbit! How... What is word? Appropriate?" She howled with mirth

"Shampoo... Stop it. It's not funny."

The purple hair amazon calmed down with an act of will, but kept grinning. "Yes it is." She turned to Ranma. "Laun is Amazon warrior who no can fight!"

"You mean she isn't a martial artist?" Akane was amazed. She'd seen the girl jump the yard's wall.

Laun, on the other hand, scowled. "I do so know martial arts." She defended her self, then paused. Then she added shyly. "I just... Don't like fighting."

"You dodge like crazy mongoose!" Shampoo teased, then winked at Ranma. "Even Ranma not so fast at dodging." 

"You don't say? This I need to see." Ranma scorned the idea, until Ryoga spoke up.

"No, Shampoo's right. Defensively Laun is the best I've seen. I think only Happosai is better at avoiding attacks. Offensively..." Ryoga smiled at her apologetically. "She hurt herself by throwing a punch the last time we sparred." 

"So? Punching you would hurt a damn jackhammer man." 

"Not if it missed, which she did."

Laun glared at her future husband, shutting him up with a yelp.

"So what were you doing near Jusenkyo again?"

"Research." Laun smiled once more. "I'm the Lore Master for my generation, the elders figured I'm good at avoiding trouble so I'd keep the knowledge safe. Anyway, I've been studying the springs for months now. Elder Lufa said I've discovered things about the springs even they didn't know."

"Really?" Ranma perked, looking the new Amazon girl over. "Maybe you can help with something." _'Yo, Mei, wake up."_

He heard the spirit girl yawn. _'What's going on?' _she asked.

_'We found someone who knows about Jusenkyo."_

Outside of Ranma's head Laun said "I'd love to help any way I can. What do you want to know?"

"Well..." Ranma began, when ghostly wisps of energy flowed out of him, and formed Mei's ghostly form.

"It's about me." 

Laun Te squeaked "It's a ghost!" Before fainting dead away.

"Well, it's your own fault." Akane stated, leaning her chin on her hand. "You know she just got to Nerima."

____________________________________________________________________________________

A short time later the teens had managed to wake Laun back up, and explained Mei's ghostly presence.

"Hm. I don't know exactly what happened, or what is going on. I do know that, according to an ancient myth, that Jusenkyo's victims don't die."

"What?" Mei Exclaimed. "I'm a ghost! I have to be dead."

"Not according to the myth. Of course, you also aren't technically alive."

"Now that's just stupid." Ranma growled disgustedly.

"Not so. The story I'm talking about suggests they are trapped, neither alive nor dead, in the soul of a demon." Laun shrugged. "Maybe if I recite the whole story you'll understand."

Akane nodded, looking a little afraid at the word Demon. "Please."

__________________________________________________________________________________

The Myth of the Three Hero's. 

Long ago the Demon Lord Jusenkyo, master of curses and suffering, came to the Home of the Three Peoples. He terrorized all the villages around the region until three great warriors' rose up to stop them.

Jun Mhi, an Amazon Warrior of unearthly beauty and skill.

Mikanma, a Pheonix hunter who could track his enemies by the whisper of the winds he flew.

And the first Herb, King of the Musk and Father of Dragon Children.

They came upon the demon in the cratered valley where the sky-stones fell, before Jusenkyo's coming, and attacked the evil monster. The battle took many days! Mikinma lost both wings to the demon's sword, and Jun Mhi was scared across her face.

In the end, it was Herb who gave the most. Impaled on the laughing demon's sword he pulled himself further down the blade so that his own iron blade could cleave the demon's head. Dragon and demon blood flowed and mixed, filling the craters one by one until all the thousand were full, but still the demon wouldn't die.

"I shall heal!" It declared.

"Then I shall bind you with our own spilled blood!" Herb screamed with his final breaths. Using the last of his strength, his chi, and his magic as part of the cry he bound them together and to the land.

Slowly both the hero and the monster sank into the Earth. Still Jusenkyo wouldn't give up. "I still will make your people suffer! Any who drown here I shall pull into my bosom before death can finally kiss them, and any who fall here shall never again be the same! And one day there will be enough sorrow in these pools to free me, so despair!"

Thus was born the Springs of Sorrow.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Thousands of miles away, while the teens were shaking off the effects of the sad, horrible story, a powerful earthquake shook loose a mudslide, which destroyed a small farming village near the very springs of which they spoke. The Chinese government promptly sent me to help rebuild, but found that none of the people wanted to return.

"That place is cursed." An old man said, before beginning his long walk away from his ancestral home.

AN: Well, a bit longer, at least. Shading of things to come, and all that.


	8. Forshadowing

Disclaimer: Genma Saotome said he'd sell me the rights to Ranma ½ for a bag of potato chips. Sadly I refused (they were BBQ!). That being said, if you've seen the characters before, they ain't mine. If you did, they are but you can use them if you really want (Just tell me so I can read that story!)

My Chinese Ghost Story

The bird was well trained. While city folk in the modern world tended to think of them as "rats with wings" some few remember that Pigeons could be excellent couriers once trained. The gray streak flying across the forests of rural china was one such creature. It had never failed to deliver a message sent by its mistress, and didn't intend to start now.

Unfortunately this intention, which consumed its tiny brain, wasn't enough to protect it from the arrow that streaked out of no where. The moment of pain was followed by oblivion as the bird plummeted.

A few moments later the woman who shot the arrow picked up her prey with a filthy hand. She examined it with a feral smile, and removed the small message capsule tied to its ankle. The Amazon's code was infamous for it's complexity but the warrior who had no name according to her former people was more then familiar with its logic.

She smiled evilly and ran off into the forest, searching for the rest of her new "tribe" and the leader who'd lead her to banishment. Her only thought was that her dark lord be pleased.

* * *

"Any word yet?" Ranma asked the newest of Nerima's residents, considering the green haired girl who'd entered the Dojo near the end of his workout.

"Not yet, but it's only been a few days. Pigeons only fly so fast you know." The Amazon Lore mistress responded. Still she'd expected something by now.

"Yeah, I suppose. Do you think there might be something in those myths to help Mei?"

"Honestly, I don't know. This is the first I heard of one of the spirits of the springs being this active! Honestly I'm more frightened by what it represents."

"How do you mean."

Laun shrugged. "If the Demon said he would hold the spirits of those drowned in the springs until he was freed, what do you think one of the spirits escaping into you might represent?"

"Okay, good point." Ranma frowned, and then shrugged the thought off. "Can't worry about that now. Say, you wouldn't mind giving me a peek at these mad dodging skills you apparently have, would you?"

"I suppose, but Shampoo and Akane both said you didn't like sparing with girls."

"Oh I don't." Ranma chuckled, and walked to a small bucket, sticking his hand into the cool water, instantly changing to a girl. The blue eyes blinked several times, and became less filled with arrogance, more introspective.

Mei stood up and stretched with a soft smile. "It seems that Ranma-kun thinks I should work on my own art. Something about killing two birds with one stone?"

"Oh, I see." Laun giggled. Ranma's reputation was not matching his actions, but the more stories Shampoo told Laun the more the other Amazon realized that Ranma Saotome may hate the girl curse, but he'd be damned if he'd let someone suffer for his discomfort. Letting Mei out to "play" was very much in character for the person he apparently was. Even Ryoga couldn't say otherwise about the pigtailed boy.

Well, unless it involved Akane Tendo.

"Okay. What style do you use?"

"Tai Chi Chuan, but I've picked up a bit of Ranma's Anything Goes School from a spectator's position. I am no where near his skill level." Mei replied. "Shall we?"

"Of course!"

Both girls took stances and faced off, staring at each other, ready to move the second the other did.

A minute passed. Then two. _Um Mei…_

"Yes Ranma?"

_Shouldn't one of you attack?_

"Oh, right. Sorry, daughter of a Monk you know." Mei giggled, and then struck out with a fast snap kick towards the other girl. The green haired Amazon seemed to literally disappear from view, appearing next to Mei and throwing a punch which missed by a mile. Mei didn't even bother to block the attack, instead to reach out and try to sweep the Amazon's legs.

She missed again, this time only by a fraction of an inch. Mei was shocked, even as she blocked another pair of poorly aimed and weak attacks. She KNEW she'd aimed that well, but Laun seemed to just NOT be where she seemed to be.

_Pig boy was right, she IS fast. _Ranma admitted grudgingly. _You're aims true, but she's literally moving to fast to see. It's like she's using the Ameriguiken over her entire body. I have GOT to learn how she's doing that!_

"I'm so glad you're excited." Mei muttered, chaining a series of attacks together, intentionally leaving a hole in her defenses for the bunny-cursed girl to strike at. Of course, the girl missed the whole and instead sent a punch through the strongest parts of Mei's defenses.

"Ranma! Stop picking on her!" Akane's voice broke both girls concentration, Mei barely having time to spin around and see Akane, her mallet in hand, coming towards her.

"But…" was all she said before Mallet-sama drove her into the floorboards.

"Um… Akane…" Laun said, sweating.

"Yeah."

"Um, we were sparing…and um… you just savagely clubbed Mei!"

"Oh, Oops."

_Geesh, it even hurts when you don't control the body. _Ranma muttered inside his own mind.

_Not THIS much, you jerk._ Mei muttered, feeling more pain then she had in over a thousand years. _Take your damn body back_

_No thanks, time for a nap._

"Ouch…" Mei muttered. Then she planned a trip to the mall. Akane can take her shopping to pay for this pain.

As for Ranma, one trip to Victoria's Secret will pay HIM back.

* * *

"So he's really been letting you use his body?" Akane asked, still amazed by both Ranma's self sacrifice (Not that that was odd in it's self, but it required an acceptance of his curse she'd never imagined) and by Laun's clothing.

The other girl smiled and sat back in her chair, looking at the ogling eyes of the boys in the food court. She stretched in her lacey midriff bearing top and tight jeans with an evil grin. Sure Ranma was still sleeping, but she'd enjoy showing him these memories later. "Honestly, I think he did it for me at first, but when he realized I LIKED school and such things, he started offering me the body for class too."

"So the pigtailed boy skips classes by napping in his own head." Laun nodded. "Sounds like something Shampoo would have done when she was still going to the village teachers."

"Shampoo pay plenty attention to teacher." Shampoo grumbled.

"Um, you realize the teacher was Japanese right."

"So?"

The other three girls just stared at Shampoo. She'd joined them confused as to why her airen was dressed as a girl. When they'd explained she'd reveled in helping the girls choose a whole new wardrobe. Fiancée war aside, tormenting the pigtailed boy was fun for EVERYONE!

"Anyway, whatever his other reasons he's letting me out and I can have some fun for myself which is more then I really have the right to ask for."

"I doubt Ranma see's it that way." Akane said. "Don't tell him I said so, but the idiot can be pretty nice when he wants to be."

"Aiyah, or a Jerk." Shampoo agreed.

"So, what's the plan now. We've bought a wardrobe that will make the Pig Tailed boy explode when he see's it, so revenge has been achieved. What's the next step."

"I was thinking we could go swimming." Akane spoke up. Shampoo and Laun glared. "Or… um… maybe to the park?"

"That sounds a bit more… feasible." Laun replied, soothing her Amazon sister's ire. "Let's go."

The girls stood… then Mei gripped the table they'd been sitting at. The other girls looked on with concern. "Mei, you okay?" Shampoo asked.

Mei could only groan, before she toppled to the ground.

* * *

Mei blinked, looking around the strange, vivid forest that surrounded her. "What happened?" She asked aloud.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it happened to me too." She turned to find Ranma, in male form, standing behind her, also looking around. He was dressed in his usual red Chinese shirt, while she was dressed similarly to how she was when she had fallen. Her clothing was pristine however, and she realized both her own clothing and Ranma's were made of far finer materials then either of them had ever owned.

"What's going on?"

"I can answer that, little one." A booming voice replied. Both turned, to face a huge dragon, its serpentine body trailing off into the distance.

"Okay, this is bad." Ranma muttered.

* * *

The Dark Lord Shetamaka stared down at the woman, one of his many wives, with a smile. She was kneeling, a position no other Amazon would willingly assume for a male, but then she wasn't really an Amazon any more. "You have brought me more then you no, beloved." He said, his tone of voice revealing a terrible joy, but not a hint of this alleged love.

"I am happy my lord, but what did I do?"

"I won't bother explaining, you wouldn't understand. You WILL however go to the blessed springs and gather a vial of each spring and label them carefully. When you are done, I will have another job for you."

She wanted to ask, demand he tell her what he was so sure she wouldn't understand, but she remained silent. Instead she said "Yes my Lord." And she disappeared into the shadows of the cave they claimed as a home.

Shetamaka sat back and pondered the note in his hands. "Yes, finally I will free my God."

AN: Here we go again. And a bit of plot development too.


	9. Ranma learns manners, well not really

Disclaimer: Now he's offering to marry me off to his daughter. You'd think it'd occur to Genma that I KNOW he only has a son, but NO. Course I got even. It involved a laxative and a pie; let's just leave it at that.

My Chinese Ghost

The huge dragon seemed to chuckle as the Pig-Tailed boy assumed a combat stance between him and the girl. "You do realize that my mouth is large enough to swallow you, her, and the top of the hill you are standing on?"

Ranma looked around and in his mind had to admit it was true, but he was not to be dissuaded. "Just try it lizard lips."

The dragon chuckled again. "Do not worry wild horse. I have no intention of devouring anyone today. Since I have been dead for several millennia my appetite is unlikely to pose anyone a problem ever again."

"Oh, well… Okay then."

Mei blinked, and then rolled her eyes. "Witty Ranma, very witty."

"You know, I liked you better when you called me Ranma-sama." The pigtailed boy muttered.

"If I could get your attention again children?" the titanic beast said, personally more amazed then offended that they'd apparently managed to forget about him for a moment. He was only the size of a small train after all.

When the two teens returned to looking at the dragon he continued. "Ranma Saotome, Mei Lin Chuan, you are on one hand he harbinger of chaos, and on the other the bringer of order. You are those whose coming was prophesized even before I fell."

"Um… Thanks?" Ranma said when the dragon paused in his poetic tone. Mei squeaked and hit him, whispering "Should we annoy the huge dragon?"

The dragons choose to ignore the boy. "Sadly your coming heralds the coming of the destroyer, but it also represents the hope for final victory."

"Cool." Ranma said when the dragon turned his gaze fully on them. "What's that mean?"

The dreamscape shuddered as a dragon face faulted.

"Ranma, be nice to him." Mei yelled at the pigtailed boy.

Ranma muttered about how he was being nice, but was ignored as the dragon shook off several trees from his forehead. "The short form," The dragon explained "Is that you are a sign that the demon Jusenkyo is about to escape his prison. The good news is you also are a clue that the strength to finally beat him is coming."

"Oh." Ranma said, intelligently. "So, um, who are you then?"

"I was King Herb the First, and you set me free when you destroyed the dragon tap. Thanks by the way."

* * *

The nameless Amazon, though she still thought of herself as Su-udz, was not happy about moving around the springs of Jusenkyo, especially not since most of them were still over their banks from the recent destruction of the Pheonix peoples god. Still she persevered and managed a feat only a handful of people had ever achieved. She moved from one end of the valley to the other without receiving a curse.

Granted, she was walking on the ground, between the pools and not foolish enough to try to "train" on the poles of bamboo between each spring, but even just walking through this valley could be dangerous.

She slid back into the forests surrounding the cursed, or as her lord called them blessed, springs and ran as fast as she could carrying the heavy sack of glass vials. She'd packed them carefully in cloth and the heavy leather pack they were in would protect them from breakage or her as the case may be. She didn't want to risk loosing anything, or making her lord wait.

She arrived at the cave with the moon still high in the sky, the full white orb making travel easy. She moved past the other wives, some fallen amazons like her, some village girls or women from disaffected communist families. She'd heard another woman refer to them as a harem, and had to grant that it was true. However her lord had healed and protected them when their own people had tossed them all out, and the services he asked were rarely unpleasant.

She was rather proud of being his chief assassin, as a matter of fact.

"Have you got my water, my dear?" He asked as she slid into his private chamber.

She gazed, humbled as usual by his towering form. He always wore robes of the darkest black, a hood covering his face so that none could see it. None of his wives had ever set eyes upon his face, or any other part of his skin other then a glimpse of grey skin peaking out of the wrist of his thick leather gloves. "Yes my lord. Every springs water. I labeled each vial as I went."

He nodded and turned to a wooden cabinet behind his bed. "Excellent. Now for the other job I had for you. Tell me sweet one, do you speak Japanese?"

"I am fluent in that language." She replied, in Japanese. Unlike many of the other warrior women she'd paid attention when learning foreign languages.

"Good." He turned and held out a glass vial, identical to the ones she'd just used to collect the spring water. "This is a vial of the spring of Drowned Twins that was poured from the Musk tribe's ladle. I require you to go to Japan, seek out the one calling herself Mei Lin Chuan as a woman and Ranma as a man. You will apply this water to them through any means necessary. This must be done by the dark of the moon."

She took the vial. "Yes my lord." She rose to leave, but he spoke again.

"Any means necessary. This is for the glory of your fellow wives, me, and our dark God. Your death is not to high a price to pay."

She swallowed. "Yes my lord."

He watched her exit, and then turned to the altar that filled the eastern portion of his chambers. "Soon my lord, we will both be free."

* * *

AN: Okay, I'll admit, this chapter didn't flow as well as I had hoped, but I needed to get things rolling on this. Call it the Saotome Writers Block defeat. (Charge through until you get past the point you couldn't get past. Maybe it's more the Hibiki final attack.) 


	10. Waterballoon

AN: I really just need to schedule my writing time better. Oh, btw I started another new Story, this one on Fiction Press, if anyone's interested. Mecha Angel Avalon (All original stuff. The prologue/pilot is all at this point, but I'm setting out to write a chapter a week.)

Oh, and I don't own Ranma ½. If you couldn't guess that, I can't help you.

My Chinese Ghost

Chapter Nine

"So, um, how do we defeat this demon?" Ranma asked Herb the first. He thought the request was most reasonable.

The dragon, on the other hand, didn't seem to think so. "I honestly couldn't say. I had to use all my powers to defeat him, along with the help of Saffron and the Amazon war-mistress. I somehow doubt you have access to the same resources."

Mei looked thoughtful. "Well, I'll give you this. Saffron is pretty unlikely to help him since Ranma did kind of kill him a few months ago. I suspect it'll take him a while to get over it."

"And I don't know who the War-Maiden might be, if the amazons even have one." Ranma added. "Though Cologne's the Matriarch so she'd know. And Herb would probably back me up in a fight against a demon. I mean, he's a jerk, but he's not that bad of a guy."

Mei nodded. Neither one noticed the stunned expression on the dragons face. "You know all of them?"

"Yeah, sure." Ranma replied absently. "Ryoga would help too. I mean, he likes to yell about killing me and everything but he's not a half bad guy. I'd also bet even a Demon would have trouble hitting him hard enough that he'd even feel it."

Mei also ignored the dragons now repeated attempts at getting their attention. "Oh, and the girls would join us too. And don't you DARE make a comment about women in a fight."

"Heh, I'd prefer them then Mouse. I mean he's tough when he's focused, but he's so rarely even focused."

"EXCUSE ME!" The dragon bellowed, the wind from his voice knocking both teens off their feet. "Are you telling me that not ONLY are you in contact with the Amazons, the Musk, and the Phoenix people, but that you also have allies who are tough enough to make that fact a FOOTNOTE."

"Um, yeah. Why is that strange?"

The dragon resisted the urge to face fault again. "You know what; I'll summon you back when I've had time to process this again. Get out of my dreamscape."

With that he breathed fire over the pair, but instead of burning them, it sent them spinning back to a more conventional reality.

* * *

"He's coming too."

Ranma groaned, and blinked open his eyes, the blue orbs focusing on Shampoo and Akane, the later being the one who spoke. He blinked again as he realized he was laying on the floor of someplace he couldn't automatically remember. "Woah, were am I." He asked intelligently.

"The mall food court." Akane replied. "Laun was talking to us, and then you just passed out."

"SHE just passed out, thank you." Ranma muttered, rolling easily to his feet. He dusted himself off, and then froze. He stared straight ahead, and refused to look down. "What am I wearing?

"Lacey top and low cut jeans. Shampoo jelous that airen look better in jeans then Shampoo." Shampoo answered matter of factly.

"WHY THE HECK AM I… am I wearing a bra?"

"Yep, lavender, just like the shirt." Akane assured him. She'd helped Laun pick it out, and was rather enjoying the pigtailed boy's consternation.

"Oh." Ranma nodded. For a moment the girls could tell he was Genma's son, because the attempt to look knowledgeable HAD to be an unconscious mirror of the panda's own stupid expression. Then the pigtailed boy took off screaming and running like the pet store had released the kittens from their cages."

"Thirty seconds." Laun commented, having been timing it. "Mei was right, he wouldn't hold out long at all."

"True. Um, should we stop airen? Ranma heading for pet store."

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!" The red headed blur went past them again.

"Too late.

* * *

"So this dragon, who claimed to be Herb, said the Demon whose name Jusenkyo takes is going to rise again?"

"Yeah, but he was really vague on when." Ranma replied, leaning back in the restaurant chair. Cologne nodded, sitting across the table from him. "He did suggest that we were also a sign that the power to finish him off, or something, is available."

"But he wasn't terribly specific I gather."

"Nope. He did seem surprised that I knew the Amazons, Musk and Phoenix people. He also seemed bothered by me knowing Ryoga too." Ranma shrugged.

Cologne chuckled. "Ranma, I don't think you realize this, but you and Ryoga are both probably going to be in the top ten percent of human fighters in the worlds history by the time your in you twenties."

"Really?"

"Yes, and don't let that fuel your ego to much. There are still better people out there then you two. The simple fact is, Ryoga and yourself has achieved things that I would have said impossible for teenagers, male or female, two years ago. I finally broke down and started teaching Shampoo advanced ki-manipulation in spite of tradition saying that shouldn't happen till she was at least twenty five."

"How she doing?"

"Compared to an average student, extremely well. This makes the fact that of the three most recent students I've taken she's the slowest to develop rather disconcerting."

"Who else… oh right. Me and P-chan."

"Exactly. You're learning curve is just astounding, and Ryoga wouldn't quit working on a project until he finished it short of someone clubbing him unconscious."

Ranma smirked. "Which your little blasting point training made damn near impossible to do." He ducked the staff swing, but took the bowl she'd tapped at him right in the face.

"Pointing out potentially negative decisions on your elders parts is considered rude, Son-in-law." Cologne muttered. "What's Mei's perspective of all this."

"She's doing the 'meditating on events' thing she does." The pigtailed boy replied. "She thinks there's something else that's going to happen before things really get going, and she's convinced it involves me."

"Why does she say that?"

"Something about momentum."

Cologne chuckled and nodded. "I can see her point."

"Can you explain it to me?"

"No. Now, what about our other allies?"

"Well, I sent a letter to Herb with that pigeon you lent me. I've also managed to get all the girls and Nabiki to agree to give Ryoga a letter if they see him before I do, and I sent one to Akari's farm and his house. Other then that, the girls are ready for whatever, Not that I think they are."

"Frankly sonny-boy I doubt anyone's ever ready to fight a demon."

"True." Ranma looked at the clock hung just above the window between the dinning room and kitchen and winced. "Either way, I have to head home. Tell Mouse to stop attacking me for the next few weeks if you wouldn't mind. I really could live without getting jumped every minute by duck boy if I'm gonna get jumped by monsters, you know?"

"I think I can imagine."

He stood and waved goodbye to the old woman before dashing out of the restaurant and towards the Tendo Dojo. He hit a roof just in time, and heard the ringing of Shampoo's bell. "Great Grandma, that ramen order was to big lot. Shampoo thinks it was another prank."

"That's fine granddaughter, I'm sure son-in-law would love to try it instead."

Ranma cursed. He'd figured the old woman would figure out he was the one making the calls, but had hoped it'd take a bit longer. It's hard enough holding a conversation with her without getting glomped or attacked as it was!

In a serious hurry he started roof hoping towards the Tendo Dojo so the target of his little pranks wouldn't figure it out. Cologne might torment and tease him a bit, but Shampoo could get rather ferocious when angry.

He spotted her bicycle a couple of houses away just as he dropped down to the level of the street, and then bounced over the Tendo compound wall. He didn't notice, until he was passing over her, the Chinese girl hiding behind the garbage.

He instinctively blocked the object she threw at her, but that just served to guarantee the impact of the simple child's water balloon, splashing water all over him, now her, and then with a searing pain… them.

Mei and Ranma-chan both hit the ground near Kasumi's startled feet, writhing in pain for a few seconds, and then they collapsed. A flash of light burst from their bodies and flowed outward away from them.

Jumping over the wall herself Shampoo was hit by the light, and unlike Kasumi who ignored it she fell to the ground in an unconscious, feline heap.

Several blocks away Mouse collapsed while cleaning out a grease trap.

Several miles away Ryoga hit the ground half way through a Kata as the light spread over him.

Across the ocean first Taro, then Herb, then the bulk of the race of the Phoenix people collapsed into their unconscious cursed forms as well as more then a few amazons.

Planet wide everyone who'd had the misfortune to visit the springs of sorrow was found in their cursed forms laying unconscious. As the last one, a woman who'd fallen into the spring of drowned owl was hit in Albany New York the light seemed to flow in reverse and focus on the springs of Jusenkyo.

The Chinese authorities reported it as an 8.7 on the Richtor Scale.

AN: Okay, it's still rolling, all be it I'm still struggling a bit. Aren't you all glad I'm stubborn, if slow.


	11. Back from the dead

Disclaimer: I don't own this. I also didn't create the cat fist. I AM working on variant involving lobsters however.

My Chinese Ghost

Chapter 10

The self styled Dark Lord Setamaka stood over the last, un-cursed, pool of Jusenkyo. Two of his 'wives' stood with him, one turning into a cat as the first wave of energy flowed over them. "Begin the chant." He commanded the other wife, as he lifted the first, trembling, from the ground. He drew a dagger from his belt, and as his chanting woman reached her crescendo he drove it into the stomach of the unfortunate curse victim, ripping off his head coverings, and sucking the blood pouring from the wound.

The chanting woman barely managed to continue speaking, the horrifying, scared face of the man she called husband filling her with terror just to look at it. Still, she had a duty to perform, and had no desire to join the less fortunate woman in death.

Setamaka, for his part, ignored the chanting woman. Instead she took his bloodied dagger, and slit the wrist holding the dead cat. "Dark Demon of Jusenkyo, accept my tribute and my acceptance of my fate. Take me as your vessel, make me what you need of me!" He chanted, then fell, bleeding and willingly, into the pool.

He timed it for the very moment that the mystical backlash his assassin had released reached the pool as well. The chanting woman was blinded by the power of the flash of light, then knocked from her feet as the very ground seemed to rebel at her presence.

When her eyes cleared, she saw a male form, perfect, and beautiful where Setamaka was ugly and horrible, stepping from the pool. He was dabbing the water from his eyes with the dead cat. "Hmmm… It's been so long since I've felt sunlight." The man said, then saw her laying on the ground. "Oh, good. I was hungry."

He reached down, grabbing her about the throat. She tried to scream, but the air was cut off from her lungs, then she felt her Ki being sucked out of her, by the demon-mans hand. Within minutes, she was dead.

Dropping her body into the pool behind him, Setamaka Jusenkyo strode towards the cave and the number of willing servants his new host had provided for him. preparations had to be made, so that he could return to full strength.

And the weaker needed to be consumed, to sate his hunger.

* * *

Nadoka Saotome was frequently immune to most of the chaos that surrounded her son. Like Kasumi, most of the Nerima Wreaking Crew considered her off limits, though not for all the same reasons.

That made the shock of what happened, the burst of energy as she followed Soun into the dining room of the Tendo home as well as the Chinese girl falling at her feet, and changing into a cat, all that much more shocking.

Ironically, it made it easier for her to recover from the strange behavior of the curses, while Soun and Kasumi were shocked by the sudden, unprecedentedly dry, change. "Ranma!" She yelled, breaking the other two out of their stupor.

Nadoka ran, dropping her katana on the ground in her rush, and came to a crouch next to her child, and realized for a horrifying moment she didn't know which body was that of her child!

The girl was so much like Ranma-chan, and indeed only the blue hair was different. Her son's body, masculine as ever, lay next to the female form. Then both groaned.

"Ranma… oh god, which of you is really you?" She asked. She'd heard horror stories about the curse girl getting loose. It was only as the green eyes of the girl fluttered open that she realized she was now unarmed.

"Mei? Is that you?" Kasumi, who was standing behind her, asked. Nadoka peering over her shoulder realized she was talking to the girl.

"Yes… what… happened?" The girl asked, her eyes locking on Ranma's body, next to her own. Ranma, for his part, had regained consciousness, and was looking back at her.

"Mei? You don't look transparent…" Ranma said, reaching out to poke the other girl in the side. "You're real!"

"I'm real?"

"What's happening here?" Nadoka demaned. "Do you know this girl? Soun said I should come over, because of something happening to Ranma! Is this it?"

Kasumi rested a hand on the Saotome matriarch's shoulder. "No, but this is probably related. I think I should call Cologne, and she can help explain it."

Nadoka, not as easily fooled by Kasumi's act as others, simply nodded. "Call her, I'll help my son and… Mei up."

A few minutes later, and Shampoo was awake, with Cologne beside her. The rest of the Tendo's and Laun Te were also present, and had heard the story of what happened. "The girl you describe, was called Su-udz. She was and amazon warrior, once."

"Once?" Nabiki asked. "Not now?"

"No. While you might not agree with the statement, the Amazon people do not approve of sensless brutality or cruelty." Cologne stated. "While Men aren't warriors, or ever granted the right to make decisions for the village as a whole, they aren't slaves either. Su-udz forgot that. She tormented, tortured, and eventually killed the man she had married."

"I'm shocked she's not dead." Nabiki commented. "You're laws are pretty draconian."

"Indeed, she should have been, but her grandmother was a matriarch. The day of Su-udz's execution came just after her grandmother's death. As a deathbed request, she begged that we not kill her grand daughter. Traditionally we granted such requests to dying leaders, and banished the woman instead. We had all thought she'd died, or ended up in Hong Kong working for the triads."

"Instead she came here and hit us with a water balloon. What the heck was in it, anyhow?" Ranma demanded.

Laun Te spoke up. "Most likely, spring of drowned twins. Were I to make a bet, it was probably a sample from the Musk locking ladle."

"What makes you say that?" Cologne asked.

"One vial was stolen, about six months ago, from the tribe's archives." Laun answered. "It's all that remained from the Gemini war with the Musk, in 1573 CE."

Cologne winced. "We KEPT some of that?"

"Gemini War?" Ranma asked, and then did the math. While uneducated, he wasn't stupid, and years of star gazing led to him knowing his constellations. "Wait… Gemini's the Twins… so if you declared a war by that name… did you start making Amazon clones or something?"

"Exactly correct. We split thirty of our best warriors, twenty five women and five men, and sent them out to meet the musk forces. The water had been created during the short time we had control of their locking ladle, so we knew they couldn't reverse the curses. We kept back five in case we needed to use it on the matriarchs, but I had thought them destroyed." The matriarch admitted.

Akane frowned. "But why the heck would they use it on Ranma? And why did it make a Laun, instead of another baka."

"Gee thanks, Akane."

"Actually, I think that's because of the legend." Laun answered. "If someone escapes the cursed springs grasp, the demon can get loose. And Mei, in her own body…"

"Is definitely escaped. Oh my." Kasumi finished.

"This isn't good." Ranma muttered, then dropped his glass of hot tea. It spilled in his and Mai's lap, causing both to jump up. "Oh man…" Both said, then Ranma froze, realizing Laun hadn't changed. "You're still a girl."

"I appear to be."

"I'm cured!" Ranma laughed, pouring a cold glass of water on his head, laughing happily. His laugh stopped when he shrunk down, and developed d-cups.

"Well, that was almost predictable." Nabiki commented.

"Well, it's not that surprising. I mean, what would make him think a new curse would counter act the old one?" Akane commented. "It's not like he's ever seen that happen before, or anything."

Somewhere, far away, Ryoga sneezed.

Authors Notes: Well, it's been a while, and here's something new. I hopefully will get something more up soon, but at least I'm trying to get the ball back rolling again.


	12. Family

My Chinese Ghost

Disclaimer: I'm BAAACK… but I still own NOTHING except Mei.

Chapter 11: Family

Mei could only stare at her reflection in the mirror, and be amazed at the fact that it was actually her reflection she was looking at. Not Ranma as a woman, not her borrowing Ranma's body, but actually her own body once again.

It scared her a little bit.

"Mei, get a hold of yourself." She hissed, softly so no one walking by the bathroom door could hear her. Closing her eyes, she collected herself using the breathing exercises her father taught her all those centuries before.

"No… don't think about that… Just breath." She lectured herself. After a few minutes, she opened her green eyes once more.

Some things had changed, from the last desperate moments of her life before Jusenkyo. Her skin wasn't abraided or bruised, nor were there any scars remaining from her desperate flight from bandits turned rapists. She was also healthy, healthier than she may have been at the time of her 'death'.

Her body was filled out, both in the general sense and in the chest, an apparent inheritance from the better diet offered to people of the modern time, and Ranma's family legacy. That legacy also showed it's self in her eyes, and other subtle ways. She no longer looked like a full bloodied Chinese girl, but more a blend of Chinese and Japanese characteristics.

Part of her wasn't really sure what to think of that. The rest of her was just thrilled to be alive again.

A knock on the door startled her out of her ruminations. "Um… yes?"

"It's me… Nadoka dear. Are you alright in there?"

"Yes, Ms. Saotome."

"Can I come in?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Nadoka opened the door, slipping in with a bundle in her arms. She set it down and smile down at the girl. "No need to be so formal. Not for someone who's so close to my son."

Unlike most of the Nerima Wrecking Crew, Mei could recognize teasing when she heard it. "Not so close as I was. I suppose he liked his space."

"My son does certainly need some, it seems." Nadoka gripped Mei's shoulders gently, then, and turned her so she could get a good look.

"What happened to your clothing dear?"

Mei looked down. She hadn't really considered her outfit. She was dressed, somehow, in the clothing she'd fallen into the springs wearing. Unlike her flesh, it hadn't healed over the intervening centuries, instead remain ripped and torn, particularly the pants, which the bandits had done their level best to destroy, before she'd scored a lucky kick and gotten away.

The last outfit her father had seen her in.

"Oh my… Is something wrong?" Nadoka asked, hugging the girl without considering her actions. "Why are you crying?"

"They're all gone. My family, my friends. I… I was able to ignore it, a ghost… but now… I don't even have Ranma… not that I ever did but…"

"Shhh… Silly girl. Do you really think my manly son would leave you by the wayside? From the way I hear it he credits you with saving his life at least twice. Something regarding Saffron… and a dish Akane cooked."

In spite of the tears, Mei giggled.

"There we go… That's better." Nadoka looked down at her. "You've lost so much, haven't you."

"It could have been worse." Mei assured her.

Nadoka doubted it, but she didn't say anything.

Mei turned back to the mirror. "I hope the Tendo's won't mind me staying here for a few days. I… I just don't know…"

"They won't even consider sending you away. I know Soun, and it's not in his nature." Nadoka assured her. "But you're a considerate girl, and considering the future."

"If there is one. The demon…"

"Is a problem for a later day. Right now, you're feeling guilty about worrying about yourself. And you shouldn't be. The world has just become a far scarier place." Nadoka tilted her head, smiling softly. "I imagine that is an odd realization for a ghost, hmmm?"

"Yes Mrs. Saotome."

"I'm not sure you should call me that… but we'll talk about that in the moment. What were you hoping to become, before you died. I imagine a bride, being so long ago."

Mei nodded. "I wasn't very sought after though. I was too much my father's daughter." She punched the air a couple of times, showing what she meant.

"Around here, that's nearly more important than knowing how to cook. Saddly." Nadoka assured. "You'll be fighting the boy's off with sticks. Or those punches. Trust me."

"Oh… well…"

"Which brings me to Ranma…"

"I wouldn't… I mean…" Mei blushed, in spite of herself. "I never really saw Ranma that way. Granted, I was dead at the time, but still… he's got enough women chasing him, pouring water on him, trying to kill or marry him…"

"Yes… I've heard the monologue. You do sound remarkably like Ranma-chan while doing it."

"Well, Ranma is borrowing my throat."

"This is true." Nadoka chuckled. "And it makes some things easier. I might be a slight bit… focused… on my son's manliness, but I think you might have pushed the situation over the edge as a fiancée."

Mei raised an eyebrow, wondering exactly what Nadoka defined as an edge, if she didn't think Ranma's situation had already gone over it… and into the ocean below.

"But… since you aren't…" Nadoka shook her head, and turned to look in the mirror. Mei could sense she was a bit nervous now.

"Is something wrong, Ma'am?"

"Not wrong…" Nadoka sighed. "You're sixteen… physically at least. A minor now, if not in your own time."

"Yes. This commonly irritates Ranma."

"Most things irritate Ranma. I think it's why he gets on with Ryoga as well as he does." Nadoka deadpanned. "That being said, you can't really venture into the world alone. Even Ryoga has parents. Somewhere."

"Yes, but I have no one…"

"A fact myself and Elder Cologne discussed while the young hot heads… and fathers… argued and you slipped away. She was going to approach you about possibly joining the amazons, but I convinced her to let me approach you first."

"Approach me about what?"

Nadoka looked into the mirror again, adjusting her already perfect hair. "You held my son when I couldn't, and were his friend when they weren't anywhere else to be found. You came from his body, newly born, or reborn. The way I see it, that makes us something akin to family. And I always wanted a daughter."

Nadoka looked at her, Mei having gasped in surprise. "Would you consider it? Since I've been told of Ranma's curse I've had no daughter of my own to shop for. Ranma suffers through the occasional shoe trip… and I really shouldn't do that to him when I want him to be so manly… but you'd make both of our lives much easier if you agreed."

"I… but… you just met me!"

"I asked Ranma in a lull. He nearly came to ask you himself." Nadoka frowned wryly. "I say ask, I should say announce it to you as a fiat acompli, with absolutely no regard for if you'd want it or not. I'm not sure you couldn't rule out a trumpet fan fair. Ranma can be surprisingly dramatic at times."

"But you don't know me."

"No, but Ranma does, and was apparently going to bring it up with me after the devil argument ended. And Genma also knows you. Apparently you scare him." Nadoka grinned evily. "This improved my opinion of you even futher."

"But…"

"I won't push you. And Cologne has offered you a place in china, if you want it. But seriously, Mei… everything you know is here, especially with Ranma. How could I not offer you a place in our home, with all you've done… and all you've suffered."

Mei looked down, then back up. "I'd… I'd like that very much, Mrs. Saotome."

"Mother, dear…" Nadoka smiled. "Oh, and these are a few of the things Ranma wore for me when I thought she was Ranko Tendo. I imagine they'll look very nearly as good on Mei Saotome, don't you."

"Yes, but…"

"I didn't take his favorites." Nadoka winked, sliding the door open. "Even if he wouldn't admit to liking that ball gown of his. Lord knows he wears it often enough. When you've changed, bring me and Kasumi what you're wearing now. Kasumi can mend it."

The giggling Me held out a leg, the pants shredded. "This?"

"Anything Goes School of Martial Sewing. Apparently Kasumi's a grand master." Nadoka shrugged. "I live in Juban, so all I know is Kendo. Works on the monsters just fine." She shrugged, and slid the door closed on that note.

"Well Father… I hope you don't mind." Somehow Mei was sure he wouldn't. Half way through changing she stopped.

"Monsters?"

AN: Okay, I couldn't pass up the Juban/Monsters comment. No Sailor Moon stuff will actually appear, but come on… you all know about my other stories, probably.

Also, for those who are interested, I now have TWITTER… and am figuring out how to use it for MANY reasons. For those who would like to know, I can be found here: Shadoe_Fox. Do a search and track me down.


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